Some great upsets, a million season highs, and a school record from Sacramento State this week. We also saw the rankings turn to the RQS system, which cuts out the high score and averages the next six best, three of which must be road meets. Check out those rankings here, see all results from last week’s meets here, and read through our live blog here. Full highlight recaps are below!

GWU’s East Coast Quad

Special report thanks to Becca Feldman

In their annual Pink Meet promoting women’s health, GWU earned a comfortable 195.4 victory over EAGL rivals UNH (193.7) and UNC (193.75) as well as William & Mary (193.175) of the ECAC. On the night GWU was presented with their 2015 EAGL Championship rings, they showed glimpses of the brilliance that made the gym world take notice early this season.

The women put together a steady performance that minimized any major mistakes. “I’m really pleased where the team is now,” said head coach Margie Foster-Cunningham. “We are climbing and we’re very excited about it but the girls, they have two feet on the ground. They know it’s hard work that’s gotten them here and they’re really jazzed about the rest of the season.”

GWU’s potential shone brightest during their vault rotation, highlighted by a huge FTY from Cami Drouin-Allaire and two Yurchenko 1.5s from Chelsea Raineri and Jillian Winstanley. Winstanley, whose vault went 9.875, also won the all-around. “Jillian had a special performance tonight,” said Foster-Cunningham. “She pays attention to every detail in practice and she’s earned it and I’m just glad she was able to come out and perform that way tonight.”

One of the highlights of the meet was the floor performance by Morgan Lane of UNC. With fun music reminiscent of a 1950s beach party movie, she won over the crowd and the judges, winning the event with a 9.875.

While UNH came into the meet as one of the best teams in the country on beam, they had a shaky night on the event, though excelled on bars, pulling in a 49 even. Danielle Mulligan won the event with a 9.875, sticking her floaty full-twisting double back dismount.

 

Georgia Counts Falls, but Keeps Pace with OU

Yes, Georgia counted a fall on beam once again after mistakes from both Vivi Babalis and Brittany Rogers, but the difference between this meet and past dramatic beam meets is that the Gym Dogs were able to put that one fall behind them and focus on the task at hand – finishing the meet strong. Anchors Ashlyn Broussard and Mary Beth Box had calm finishes on beam before the team went off to reach dynamic levels on floor posting a 49.4 as a team with standout routines from Gigi Marino and Brandie Jay.

The Sooners came in with a few lineup shifts, and were for some reason absolutely hammered on floor, getting all 9.8-range scores for a 49.1 despite an overall strong rotation. Otherwise, their scores were about on par with the rest of their meets this season, with bars and beam their standouts at 49.45 and 49.5. We finally got to see Stefani Catour enter the mix, hitting a 9.9 on beam, but what really amazed me was her bars performance. Though she was only an exhibition there, she had a routine that would be an anchor routine for almost any other team. Seriously, I cried a little. What’s incredible about their team is that they can swap in gymnasts who never make the lineup and they hit as well as those who do.

Southern Utah’s Major Upset

My favorite thing this season has been seeing so many smaller programs step up and kill it when facing big teams. Southern Utah did just that when facing the top five program Michigan last Friday, defeating the Wolverines 196.3 to 195.75 after an incredible floor rotation where Natalie Trejo had a senior night to remember for a 9.9 and Virginia Brownsell was near-perfect for a 9.95. Michigan had a mostly good meet but fell apart on beam, with falls from Lindsay Williams and Nicole Artz in addition to big wobbles from Talia Chiarelli and Olivia Karas. In the end, they couldn’t fight back from these early blunders, giving the meet over to the Thunderbirds early on.

Friday Night Heights

Instead of the usual million SEC duals we’re used to seeing on Friday, this week we only got two – Florida at Missouri and Auburn at LSU. It wasn’t Florida’s best night, as Bridget Sloan had an uncharacteristically wobbly routine, and then a fall on an aerial for a 9.15. Still, “not their best night” amounted to a huge 197.75 thanks to a gorgeous bars rotation and killer performances on floor, where Sloan’s near-perfect routine got a 10 from one judge and a 9.975 total. I also liked seeing Bridgey Caquatto, who’s finally over the dozens of illnesses plaguing her all season, really step it up with one of the best performances I’ve ever seen her do on bars. The host team also looked fantastic, ending things with a huge 49.375 on floor, where Morgan Porter – the star of the meet – closed out her night with a 9.95.

At LSU, the Lady Tigers brought in their best score of the season as well as the overall best score of the week with a ginormous 197.825. The win comes after the disappointing loss of freshman Lexie Priessman due to a foot injury, but even though they missed her on bars, they finally saw the return of Jessica Savona on floor, who was absolutely to-die-for, getting a 9.95. They also counted a pair of 9.925s from McKenna Kelley and Randii Wyrick, while Ashleigh Gnat – already a recipient of two perfect 10s on vault – got her first 10 on floor for her incredible performance. The Auburn Tigers also looked their best on floor, coming back from a fall from Abby Milliet to post a 49.45, with Caitlin Atkinson showing a standout routine in a great comeback from a bars fall earlier in the meet.

PAC 12 Saturday

It was a nightmare of a meet for Cal this Saturday, a bummer after seeing them look so good. Toni-Ann Williams just couldn’t seem to put it together, breaking her swing on bars for a 9.4, sitting her Yurchenko 1.5 for a 9.225, and then missing her front tuck + loso combo only to fall a few skills later on a bhs layout for a 9.0. With another fall from Charlie Owens on bars as well as one from Jessica Howe on beam, it meant counting two falls on a night where Oregon State was killing it. Kaytianna McMillan was the hometown hero for the Beavs, getting a pair of 9.95s for her expert bars and beam, while Maddie Gardiner was on fire from start to finish, going 39.475 in the all-around. Great work, and it got them to 196.85 over Cal’s 195.35.

Next on the docket was Utah at Stanford where the big news was Elizabeth Price unveiling her DTY! This makes her the third gymnast this season to do one, an awesome step up from the previous years of FTY city. Unfortunately, Price did fall on bars, which they had to count after Dani McNair’s disastrous performance earlier in the rotation. Otherwise, it was a good meet for the Cardinal, including a 9.925 for Price on floor and another 9.925 for Melissa Chuang on beam. Utah’s 197.15 was enough to topple their 195.875, however. With floor once the weakest point for the Red Rocks, it’s now looking like their strongest, though they were solid for the rest of the meet as well, with Maddy Stover closing out their night with a 9.975 for her fierce beam. The drama for these teams mostly came after the meet, as Utah’s social media manager tweeted “It was fun winning in front of 1500 but we’re excited to come home to our 15,000 fans.” Stanford’s classy response about loving their own fans and congratulating Utah on the win prompted Utah to delete their tweet, though they never apologized for showing poor judgment.

On Sunday, UCLA nearly got taken down by Washington, something that happened when these two teams last met in Seattle a couple of years back. UW had one of their best meets of the season for a 196.45, and though UCLA got off to a weak start on bars and then vault, they were more than good enough on beam and floor to turn things to their favor, finishing with a 196.675. Sophina DeJesus had highlight performances with 9.925s on bars and floor, and while fellow senior Danusia Francis struggled with a weak FTY and an error on floor, she went for broke on beam for a 9.925 of her own there. For UW, Joslyn Goings and Allison Northey led the team, which is still without Janae Janik and was missing Hailey Burleson on beam and floor as she deals with a calf injury. My favorite performances came from the understated Malory Rose and Stephanie Stowe on beam, and I also loved seeing Goings and Alex Yacalis bring the house down on floor.

Finally, Arizona State and Arizona met on Monday, with both teams looking nearly at their best. While ASU can’t put up big numbers on vault due to low start values and messy landings, they got a great 1.5 from Taylor Allex there for a 9.9, starting them off with some hope. On bars, both Heather Udowitch and Corinne Belkoff had multiple major mistakes, and they had to count Udowitch’s 8.45, but they came back with clean work on beam and then an epic finish on floor, where they counted big numbers across the board, including a 9.925 from Allex’s dynamic crowd-pleasing performance. They’re working with only eight gymnasts in their arsenal right now, so kudos to them for a mostly solid night for a 193.975. Arizona came up short on a few of their vaults, though otherwise had an awesome meet, hitting 196.375 after an especially gorgeous beam performance, where Maddy Cindric had the meet high score of 9.9.

 

The Sneaky Standouts

Boise State defeated Ohio State by nearly two points, putting up a 196.3 despite some errors on vault and beam. Bars has been a tremendous event for the Broncos, and this night was no different, with Diana Mejia going 9.925 and Krystine Jacobsen hitting 9.975 to help them to a 49.525. This team has been a sleeper hit all season, but once they put everything together all at once, they are definitely going to be a huge success.

Illinois also reached a 196.3 in one of their best meets of the season. Freshman Lizzy LeDuc and Giana O’Connor were standouts in the all-around, and the team showed overall brilliant work on beam, with Sunny Kato notching a 9.95 to help them to a 49.425.

But the surprise standout of the night goes to Sacramento State. The Hornets came in with a 196.475, huge for them, as they counted no mistakes from start to finish. The team’s star Kalliah McCartney had a great all-around performance for a 39.35, Lauren Rice also looked solid across the board in addition to killing it with her fantastic floor performance for a 9.925, and as a whole the women were unstoppable on bars, where Caitlin Soliwoda turned heads with her 9.95. Up against Bay Area MPSF rival San Jose State, the Hornets topped nearly every podium, aside from beam where SJS’s Maddie Herr was the best with a 9.85. SJS had a solid meet of their own, but in the end were no match for Sac State.